What our Nations are up against!

How to Use this Blog

Howdy! We've amassed tons of information and important history on this blog since 2010. If you have a keyword, use the search box below. Also check out the reference section above. If you have a question or need help searching, use the contact form at the bottom of the blog. ALSO, if you buy any of the books at the links provided, the editor will earn a small amount of money or commission. (we thank you) (that is our disclaimer statement)

This is a blog. It is not a peer-reviewed journal, not a sponsored publication... The ideas, news and thoughts posted are sourced… or written by the editor or contributors.

2019: This blog was ranked #50 in top 100 blogs about adoption. Let's make it #1...

2019: WE NEED A TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Commission in the US now for the Adoption Programs that stole generations of children... Goldwater Institute's work to dismantle ICWA is another glaring attempt at cultural genocide.

Search This Blog

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

If it happens in Canada, will it happen here? #StolenGenerations

Adoption Council Applauds Human Rights Tribunal Decision re: First Nations Children
— OTTAWA, ON--(Marketwired - January 26, 2016) - The Adoption Council of Canada applauds the landmark ruling by the Canadian Human Rights tribunal, which has today recognized the federal government's discrimination in the provision of child and family services for First Nations' children and families living on reserve and in the Yukon.

Supporting First Nations' children and youth in finding permanent
families also requires the commitment of post-permanency resources at
the same level as these children and youth required when they were in
care.

"The leadership of Cindy Blackstock and the First Nations' Caring
Society was essential in securing this vital decision," says Laura
Eggertson, interim executive director of the Adoption Council of Canada.
"As a result, First Nations children on-reserve and in the Yukon face
the prospect of a better future."

By Trace Hentz (editor of American Indian Adoptees blog)

Canada is a blur with news about the injustice of adoption practices (aka cultural genocide) and lack of funding for First Nations families to receive monies to keep families intact. And if children need to be into foster care, then keep the siblings together.That is Canada, not the US.One of the reasons I post on this blog about Canada is they are making headway in news stories and the US is not.If it happens in Canada, can it happen here too?I hope so. I really do.Human trafficking involves money and certain people who profit. Adoption is a form of human trafficking, taking a child from the reservation and placing them with a non-Indian parent for a fee. The agency makes money in that transaction. That the Adoption Council of Canada is making this proclamation means to them that those monies will soon dry out. You can't run an adoption agency without product (children and babies) and the reserve was a source of that product.

This story I posted on my other blog in 2013!:

Some things never change: more Stolen Generations

A public broadcast of Kevin Rudd’s formal apology to the Stolen
Generations at Elder Park, Adelaide. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

SOURCE As a Native American who has experienced upheaval and survived my own
closed adoption, the devastating loss of my culture and my language
cannot be overstated as a loss to me, to my family and to other adoptees
I know who endured it. This media release struck me that some things
never change, either in the US or in Australia. If we do not teach this history, we are doomed to repeat it – over and over.
Poverty is the worst form of violence and the Third World and Indian
Country is still suffering the effects, generation after generation…
Trace/Lara

Concerned Australians MEDIA RELEASE 20 May 2013

KEEPING THEM HOME

The most recent data shows that children being moved into out-of-home
care in the Northern Territory is increasing at an alarming rate and
that two-thirds of these children are placed with non-Indigenous
families away from their communities…

‘Concerned Australians’ invites the Chief Minister to join the campaign to keep Aboriginal children safely in their communities. We know Adam Giles
cares very greatly about the safety of children and we call on him and
his ministers, and all those in the Northern Territory who have the
capacity to influence policy, to throw their support behind:

•An increase in Aboriginal-managed Family Support services in all Aboriginal communities, including the establishment of Family Group Conferencing processes when there are concerns regarding child safety

• A reversal of the decision that cut funds to the Community Sector

We ask you to hear the words of Elder Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM: A Yolŋu
child has a spirituality, his own ‘skin’, his culture, language, and
place in his community. He belongs to that country and its people. You
are committing a deep wrong by taking that away from him…

And, This is why so many of the Stolen Generation
have suffered so much. The deep psychological trauma from being taken
away has led so many of them to substance abuse, contact with the
criminal courts and family breakdown. And the trauma is then passed onto
their children.

This is a matter of urgency. We do not wish to see the emergence of another Stolen Generation.

Please: Share your reaction, your thoughts, and your opinions. Be passionate, be unapologetic. Offensive remarks will not be published. We are getting more and more spam. Comments will be monitored. Use the comment form at the bottom of this website which is private and sent direct to Trace.

Survivors, write your stories. Write your parents stories. Write the elders stories. Do not be swayed by the colonizers to keep quiet. Tribal Nations have their own way of keeping stories alive.... Trace

Help in available!

1-844-7NATIVE (click photo)

click to listen

Diane Tells His Name

Please support NARF

Indian Country is under attack. Native tribes and people are fighting hard for justice. There is need for legal assistance across Indian Country, and NARF is doing as much as we can. With your help, we have fought for 48 years and we continue to fight.

It is hard to understand the extent of the attacks on Indian Country. We are sending a short series of emails this month with a few examples of attacks that are happening across Indian Country and how we are standing firm for justice.

Today, we look at recent effort to undo laws put in place to protect Native American children and families. All children deserve to be raised by loving families and communities. In the 1970s, Congress realized that state agencies and courts were disproportionately removing American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families. Often these devastating removals were due to an inability or unwillingness to understand Native cultures, where family is defined broadly and raising children is a shared responsibility. To stop these destructive practices, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

After forty years, ICWA has proven to be largely successful and many states have passed their own ICWAs. This success, however, is now being challenged by large, well-financed opponents who are actively and aggressively seeking to undermine ICWA’s protections for Native children. We are seeing lawsuits across the United States that challenge ICWA’s protections. NARF is working with partners to defend the rights of Native children and families.

where were you adopted?

To Veronica Brown

Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.

Join!

National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network (NISCWN)

Membership Application Form

The Network is open to all Indigenous and Foster Care Survivors any time.

ADOPTION TRUTH

As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.

This has happened to many, many Native children! We must protect ICWA and enforce it so that it stops! Even non-Native families that are not racist cannot provide a Native child with cultural knowledge and belonging. Only their tribes can do that. #ProudtoProtectICWAhttps://t.co/oA1e5kiK4k

A4: Twenty-one states filed an amicus brief in this case in support of #ICWA. These states, which are home to over 70 percent of tribal nations, know that ICWA helps them better serve Native children and families.#ProudtoProtectICWA

TWO WORLDS Book 1 (second edition)

Two Worlds anthology (Vol. 1)

“…sometimes shocking, often an emotional read…this book is for individuals interested in the culture and history of the Native American Indian, but also on the reading lists of universities offering ethnic/culture/Native studies.”

“Well-researched and obviously a subject close to the heart of the authors/compilers, I found the extent of what can only be described as ‘child-snatching’ from the Native Americans quite staggering. It’s not something I was aware of before…”

“The individual pieces are open and honest and give a good insight into the turmoil of dislocation from family and tribe… I think it does have value and a story to tell. I was affected by the stories I read, and amazed by the facts presented…. because it is saying something new, interesting and often astonishing.”

Did you know?

Good words

I agree with you on the caring of “orphans” – true orphans, not “paper orphans” as Kathryn Joyce describes in her book, The Child Catchers. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the orphan’s original identity and family connection and heritage must remain intact and available to him or her forever. This business of adoption – and I do mean the multi-billion-dollar, unregulated business of adoption – of wiping out the child’s original identity, falsifying birth records with the adopters’ names, altering facts such as place of birth, severing familial kinship, must stop … Immediately. And the outrageous injustices foisted upon adoptees and their families for the past 100 years must be addressed and righted. We are faced today with six to seven million people who were basically legally kidnapped, sold to the highest bidder, their identities falsified, and placed in a lifelong, imposed witness protection program for which there is no legal recourse. Then told by church officials, agency and government functionaries that they have no right to know who they are, to do genealogy or learn about important family medical history, or know the identity of or associate with blood relatives. This is how the Judeo-Christian society has interpreted “caring for orphans”, for it’s own selfish interests and greed. Starting with Georgia Tann, the woman charged with kidnapping and selling 5,000 children, most of whom were given to the rich and powerful who then colluded with her to “seal” adoptions and cover their nefarious activities (see, for example, Gov. Herbert Lehman, NY, 1935).

We are #50 in the world?

Every. Day.

adoptees take back adoption narrative and reject propaganda

Disclosure Statement

“We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”If you buy our books from Amazon, we receive a small payment.